sugar maple question

hello the group
i have a few questions about sugar maples
i have 15 acres of land at stanthorpe australia bout 800 metres above sea
lvl gets to -5 degrees celsius in winter am i correct in assuming that that
should get good autumn colour ?
also is -5 degrees celsius cold enough for these trees i figure in their
original location like canada
nth usa it would get a lot colder
gets to about 35 degrees celsius in summer here
how far apart should i plant the trees and what sort of growth can i expect
sorry for all the questions the nursery i looking at getting them from is 2
hour drive down the road
they have 5 for sale but they couldn't answer my questions their just
selling them however their the only place that has maples to sell that i
have been able to find
last question do maples flower? as our family has bout 13 bee hives so it
woould be a bonus if they did
ok thanks in advance for your time and input

HI,
Try this site http://www.maple-trees.com/ also try looking into
http://www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/PDFpubs/7036.pdf . I have loads of
maple trees on my property and yes the do flower in the spring, pretty red
buds. they need cold nights and warm days in the spring for the sap to flow
freely.
I would go and buy those trees ,even if you never get any maple syrup they
are beautiful shading trees.

An interesting site with information that is not always up to date
or complete. Still worth looking at, thanks for the link.

There will be no (or little) maple syrup, they need colder temps for
that.
Acer saccharum is a complex species with several sub-species
and various cultivars, so without more specific information as to
the latin name of the trees it is hard to say what you're getting,
or even what size they will eventually make.
Speaking in generalities, the species type flowers with greenish
yellow, small flowers that appear in upright corycombs before the
leaves. They are pretty but not terribly showy, although the
bees will like them well enough.
You are not likely to see much fall colour. That requires cold
nights and warm sunny days. For this reason A. saccharum is
rarely grown in Europe, for example, where although it shows
yellow it almost never goes brilliant red and orange as in
the US.
They do not require freezing temperatures but if it doesn't
get very cold they may sometimes suffer late frost damage.
I don't think this will be a real problem here.
They are indeed slow growers but require space, minimum
10 m between trunks or they will look crowded in 100 years. :)
(seriously, I have seen old aisles planted closer, they look fine.)
They like sun, 35 C is no problem.
There are other maples that provide more reliable autumn
colour in your climate, an example is A. x freemani of which
the cultivar "Autumn Blaze" is now very widely available.
Still autumn colour not withstanding they will make very
fine trees and are likely to do well enough unless your soil is
very alkaline.
HTH,
-E

--
Emery Davis
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